Gary Marchant

AIEI Board of Advisors; Center for Law, Science and Innovation at Arizona State University

Gary Marchant is a regents professor of law and director of the Center for Law, Science and Innovation at Arizona State University (ASU). His research interests include legal aspects of genomics and personalized medicine, the use of genetic information in environmental regulation, risk and the precautionary principle, and governance of emerging technologies such as nanotechnology, neuroscience, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence.

Marchant teaches courses in: law, science, and technology; genetics and the law; biotechnology: science, law, and policy; health technologies and innovation; privacy, big data, and emerging technologies; and artificial intelligence: law and ethics. He was named a regents' professor in 2011 and also is a professor in ASU's School of Life Sciences, a distinguished sustainability scientist in ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, and is a Lincoln Professor of Emerging Technologies Law and Ethics with the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics at ASU.

Prior to joining ASU in 1999, Marchant was a partner at the Washington, DC, office of Kirkland & Ellis, where his practice focused on environmental and administrative law. During law school, he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology and editor of the Harvard Environmental Law Review and was awarded the Fay Diploma (awarded to top graduating student at Harvard Law School).

Marchant frequently lectures about the intersection of law and science at national and international conferences. He has authored more than 150 articles and book chapters on various issues relating to emerging technologies. Among other activities, he has served on five National Academy of Sciences committees, has been the principal investigator on several major grants, and has organized numerous academic conferences on law and science issues.

Featured Work

SEP 29, 2021 Article

Why Soft Law is the Best Way to Approach the Pacing Problem in AI

There is still skepticism about the role of soft law in AI. Some posit that we must have hard law to protect people, and I ...

JUL 7, 2021 Podcast

Soft Law Approaches to AI Governance

In this Artificial Intelligence & Equality podcast, Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen speaks with Arizona State's Gary Marchant and Carlos Ignacio Gutierrez about their work characterizing soft ...